


Match

by haganenoheichou



Series: Wrong [Eruri Week 2016] [6]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Eruri Week, Eruri Week 2016, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Mentions of Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-21 22:54:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6061161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haganenoheichou/pseuds/haganenoheichou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi is no longer in a position to be Humanity's Strongest. </p><p>Eruri Week 2016, Prompt 6: Hurt/Comfort & Sickness/Caring</p>
            </blockquote>





	Match

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my lovely, lovely honey for supplying the idea!

It was gone. Just like that.

For some reason, human tend to think of themselves as invincible up until the point when something occurs to break them. It was almost as if every single one of us lived under the illusion of… what? Grandeur? Self-sufficiency? Some strange, ill-placed feeling of being the masters of a world that did not accept anyone’s ownership?

Humans were breakable beings. That was the reality. And it was staring Levi in the face.

It was strange. He could still feel it. He could have sworn he had woken up because his left foot had been aching for him to scratch it. Dazed from the deep, drug-induced sleep, he had roused with a start and reached out, only to find nothing.

It was really gone.

He looked at the flat blanket that concealed the end of the stump. He could still see it there, just like it had been the previous morning.

The previous afternoon, too… before the mission had officially gone to hell.

His hand was aching to reach out and make sure that it wasn't an illusion. He leaned forward, trying to find balance in his new, damaged body, when someone grasped his wrist and stopped him.

He looked sideways wearily.

“It’s gone.”

Grey eyes met blue.

“What do you know, shithead?”

Erwin’s face was impassive as he greeted Levi aggression with an almost pitying understanding. Levi detested pity.

“Stop looking at me like that.”

“How should I look at you?”

 _Look at me like I’m Humanity’s Strongest,_ Levi wanted to say. It was strange, this new notion that he was no longer that. He was no longer a source of pride for the Survey Corps. For Erwin.

His forehead met Erwin’s shoulder. The very shoulder that had been relieved of the burden of his arm so many months ago.

“Let it out if you need to.”

Levi shook his head, refusing to obey the call of his nature, to trash the room, to scream, to curse angrily at the very man who had sent him right into the pits of hell.

“How did it happen?” He asked, his voice weirdly muted to his own ears. He felt Erwin heave a sigh.

“You’re lucky you don’t remember.”

“Tell me.”

“You just… got caught between two of them. Ten- and seven-meter class. They… I saw them… fight over you.”

“Playing tug of war over someone as scrawny as me?” Levi allowed himself a sardonic smile that turned into a full-blown hysterical laugh. He only managed to snap out of it when Erwin hit him across the cheek. The sting was enough to return him back to where he was.

Broken.

“Who got me out?”

“I did.”

_Of course you did. You, who never places value on broken toys. Who throws away life after life, feeding the Titans without any remorse. You came back for me._

“Why?”

“Because Humanity needs its Strongest.”

Levi pursed his lips, drawing back from Erwin. “Don’t do this.”

A calloused hand found his own and he felt chapped lips on his knuckles.

“I cannot not do this, Levi.”

Grey eyes surveyed at the Commander. “Then you’re done for.”

“I was done for a long time ago. There is no place in hell for a sinner like myself.”

Silence stretched between them. Levi’s attention returned back to his stump.

“Fitting end for me, isn’t it?”

“Not the end, Levi. Just a new beginning.”

“Save the bullshit speeches for those who believe in your crap.”

“Fair enough,” Erwin said, glancing towards the window. “I suppose now is not the time to make a joke?”

Levi’s mouth twitched. “Your humor is so shitty that it might actually work. What is it?”

“Well,” Erwin paused, looking up at Levi and offering the stump of his right arm.

“We match now.”

 


End file.
